Defence Force pleads guilty over Anzac Day crash

By Simon Wong

Online Reporter

Friday 18 Jul 2014 3:06p.m.

The New Zealand Defence Force has admitted failing to ensure the safety of its employees following the 2010 Anzac Day helicopter crash.

Sole survivor Sergeant Stevin Creeggan was granted leave to take a private prosecution against the Defence Force for failing to ensure employees were not exposed to hazards from the operation of helicopters while at work. Three others died in the crash.

The Defence Force was convicted as it pleadguilty to the charge at the Wellington District Court this afternoon before Judge William Hastings.

The maximum penalty for the charge is a $250,000 fine, however Crown organisations are immune to being fined by the courts. Instead, the Defence Force was ordered to pay $20,000 in reparations to each of the four victims' families.

Judge Hastings said the reparation figure was symbolic and "is in effect a tangible demonstration of a willingness to make amends for harm done, rather than a crude valuation of a life lost".

Sgt Creeggan's case is believed to be the first successful private prosecution under the Health and Safety in Employment Act.

His lawyer Tim McKenzie says Sgt Creeggan is not seeking reparation so there is no financial motivation for his client. Sgt Creeggan did not want others to endure what he and the victims' families have been through.

Instead, the sentencing served four purposes – to hold the defence force accountable for its actions, to denounce the offending, deter future offending as well as possible reparation for the other victims, Mr McKenzie says.

He believed the Defence Force had high culpability in the accident and if it was subject to a fine, he would argue for one at the "high end" of the scale.

Sgt Creeggan was one of four men on board the Iroquios helicopter which crashed in poor weather conditions near Pukerua Bay, en route from Ohakea, to Wellington to take part in an Anzac Day flypast.

The Iriquois was one of three making the journey from Ohakea. Court documents show if the helicopter had its radar altimeter set to the required 200ft rather than 50ft the crew a warning alarm would have given the crew 19 seconds notice before impact rather than the estimated half a second.

The court also heard how some of the crew were not adequately trained for the flight and planning focused more on the flypast rather than getting to the Anzac Day ceremony.

Captain Flight Lieutenant Hayden Madsen, 33, and co-pilot Flying Officer Dan Gregory, 28, and crewman Corporal Ben Carson, 25, were killed in the crash, while Sgt Creeggan was seriously injured.

Sgt Creeggan was at the crash site for an hour-and-a-half hours, before he was rescued and taken to hospital where his long journey to recovery began.

In court this afternoon, he recounted the crash as well as the long list of surgeries he'd faced since the incident and his problems in doing simple day-to-day things.

"It destroyed my career in the Defence Force, and completely turned my life upside down," he said.

Defence Force lawyer Nigel Lucie-Smith said the organisation accepted responsibility for failing to prevent the accident and "unreservedly apologised" to the victims' families and Sgt Creeggan as well as the New Zealand public.

"No one anticipated three of our colleagues, our workmates, our friends would not come home that Anzac morning," he said.

"We failed to prevent this tragedy and we failed our people. The only amends the Defence Force can make to is to make sure lessons of this tragedy never go away."

He conceded the Defence Force has "some work to do" in terms of re-establishing trust with the victims' families. Mr Lucie-Smith accepted the Defence Force had high culpability for the accident.

However, the Defence Force had already made formal written apologies and offers of amends to the families of the three killed. This included $70,000 to each family as well as a funeral grant.

The Defence Force had also paid all of Sgt Creeggan's medical costs, 100 percent of his salary while he was off work and a formal written apology from the chief of defence.

Wide-ranging changes are also being made to Defence Force procedures as a result of the crash, Mr Lucie-Smith says.

In sentencing, Judge Hastings commended Sgt Creeggan's decision to take the prosecution.

"You are proof that one person can make a difference. You have managed to create a silver lining from an unimaginable tragedy that has seared itself into the nation's psyche."

He also commended the Defence Force for taking steps to make changes to limit the possibility of a similar accident happening again.

In November last year, Sgt Creeggan was granted extra time to take bring the private prosecution.

Judge Hastings, who made the ruling, says Sgt Creeggan's physical and psychological injuries alone "made it unreasonable to have expected him to have commenced a private prosecution within six months of the accident".

The Act requires prosecutions to be brought within six months of the incident.

The Iroquois are currently being phased out and replaced by eight NH90 helicopters with the last to be retired next year.

3 News

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